Amy C Walters

Jesus Presented at the Temple – Luke 2:21-40

Simeon and Anna know what it’s like to wait. They both committed themselves to looking for the Messiah, diligently waiting for him for 70+ years. In this post, we’ll look at what it takes to have that kind of focus and endurance.

Two main characters from this story, Simeon and Anna, have a lot they can teach us about being ready for the Messiah.

Simeon, we’re told, is someone who is righteous and devout. This word devout means that he is committed to a cause or a belief, he’s religiously devoted. 

We’re told that he is righteous. He is pursuing the right things. And in order to do those right things, he needs to know what those right things are. So we can assume that Simeon knows God’s law, knows God’s Word.

But Simeon is not just pursuing doing the right things, he’s pursuing a person. We’re told that he is “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” We’ve talked about how this refers to the Messiah. So Simeon is not just doing the right things, he is waiting for God to show up, to fulfill this promise of sending the Savior. 

And this kind of waiting requires devotion, especially when the person you are waiting for has taken centuries to arrive! 

The Messiah was promised way back at the very beginning of time when Adam and Eve sinned and were kicked out of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15). God promised that a Savior would come. And it’s been hundreds and hundreds of years since then. 

Simeon is not deterred by this long wait. He has not given up hope that this Savior will arrive. In fact, we’re told that the Holy Spirit was upon Simeon and that the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he wouldn’t die before seeing the Messiah.

All that time has passed, all those people through the centuries who have been waiting for the Messiah, and now Simeon is told that he will see the Messiah in his lifetime. What a beautiful promise!

Sometimes though, there can be a difference between what we know and what we do. We can know something or say that we believe something and not always act on those beliefs. Simeon could have had this knowledge that he wouldn’t die before seeing the Messiah, and yet still squandered his life. 

But we don’t see that from Simeon. We see a reliance on the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit moves in Simeon to go to the temple, he goes. It doesn’t matter what else he’s doing, where else he is, Simeon is listening to the Holy Spirit and goes to the temple so that he is in the right place at the right time.

Let’s go back for a moment to this reference to Jesus as “the Consolation of Israel.” Another word for “consolation” is “comfort.” Simeon is waiting for the comfort of God’s people. 

Someone who is waiting for comfort is someone who has seen struggle and heartache and difficulty and pain. We don’t know what that is for Simeon, but we know that someone who is looking for comfort has not lived a comfortable life.

Simeon recognizes that the only true comfort that he is going to have is in Jesus alone. This life may be full of trouble and struggle and discomfort, but Jesus will bring that comfort, bring that consolation to us.

Maybe you have lived a life of discomfort, or you have seen pain or struggle. You can know that Jesus is your consolation, is your comfort. And you can place your hope in that, knowing that the struggles of this life will not last forever, but Jesus will bring consolation and comfort.

In this story, we also get to meet Anna. Anna has had a difficult life too; widowed after just seven years of marriage. We also don’t hear any mention of children, so it’s possible that Anna never had kids. And by the time she meets Jesus, she’s 84 years old. So here she is, an elderly widow, alone in the world.

Anyone in that situation could have grown bitter, could have gotten stuck in anger and sadness. People who are alone also tend to isolate themselves. It’s this horrible self-fulfilling cycle to feel lonely and so you isolate yourself even more and deepen that loneliness.

But we don’t see these things from Anna. Instead of bitterness and anger and sadness, we see her worshiping God, praying and fasting. Instead of isolation, we see Anna at the temple, living there. She places herself where she can be in community with others who are seeking God as well.

Anna does not let the difficult circumstances she’s seen in her life make her bitter and lonely. Instead, she turns to God. She devotes her life to worship. 

And so she is in the right place at the right time as well. She is there when Simeon is holding Jesus in his arms and praising God for the chance to see his salvation. She sees it too. And she spreads the word about Jesus to everyone who is “waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

Redemption is such a beautiful word. Buying something back, taking something that was worthless and giving it great worth and value and meaning. 

Anna could have looked at her life as wasted, as all these things that she had planned and hoped for didn’t come to fruition, as she became a widow at a young age without having any children. She could have looked at that as wasted time, wasted opportunities, not what she was hoping for.

But she believes in God’s redemption. She believes that God will send someone who will make that all worthwhile. And she gets to see him. She gets to see Jesus, and she tells everyone about him.

What we see here from both Simeon and Anna is a picture of how to be ready for Jesus. We see…

• Simeon pursuing righteousness, following God, devoted and committed.
• Simeon listening to the Holy Spirit.
• Simeon realizing his full comfort will not come in this life, but in the life to come, through Jesus.
• Anna not getting stuck in a place of bitterness or anger or sadness, even when life does not go the way she expected.
• Anna committing her life to worshiping God, to prayer and fasting.
• Anna joining a community of other people who are seeking God.

This is how we need to be ready for Jesus. Because he is coming again. You and I have the same responsibility today to prepare our hearts for the Messiah. 

He is returning.

He came the first time just as he promised.

He is coming again.

And just like his first coming, we don’t know exactly when that will be.

Our brothers and sisters throughout time have already waited for centuries for Jesus’ return. It could be today. Are we ready? Are we following Simeon and Anna’s example of being ready for Jesus?

That is our key truth for today: Be ready for Jesus. Learn from Anna and Simeon what that looks like.

• Are you seeking out community to be around other believers who are also looking for Jesus?
• Are you committed to waiting for him and looking for him even if it takes the rest of your life?
• Are you pursuing God and righteous living so that you can recognize him when he comes?
• Are you listening to the Holy Spirit as he guides you?
• Are you taking comfort in the knowledge that this pain and struggle of this life will not last forever because Jesus is coming and he is our ultimate consolation and comfort?